You look at me and call me oppressed,
Simply because of the way I’m dressed,
You know me not for what’s inside,
You judge the clothing I wear with pride,
My body’s not for your eyes to hold,
You must speak to my mind, not my feminine mold,
I’m an individual, I’m no mans slave,
It’s Allahs pleasure that I only crave,
I have a voice so I will be heard,
For in my heart I carry His word,
“O ye women, wrap close your cloak,
So you won’t be bothered by ignorant folk”,
Man doesn’t tell me to dress this way,
It’s a Law from God that I obey,
Oppressed is something I’m truly NOT,
For liberation is what I’ve got,
It was given to me many years ago,
With the right to prosper, the right to grow,
I can climb mountains or cross the seas,
Expand my mind in all degrees,
For God Himself gave us LIB-ER-TY,
When He sent Islam,
To You and Me!

I really don’t know what to make of this. On the one hand, I agree that there are stereotypes regarding women in veil, in burqas, in hijabs– stereotypes that project a veiled woman as a passive subject, always to be seen as oppressed, needing the help of her more liberated/ emancipated sisters and brethren!

But I would be very wary of this almost celebratory tenor of writing and self-image of “Muslim” women as propagated by this poem and website… Very different from Zeib un Nisa’s ‘I will not lift my veil’ 😉 Probably because this hijab is rooted in religion while Zeib un Nisa’s veil was more of a cultural construct… I think….